General-purpose sensing systems have a wide variety of uses. Of particular interest is a subclass of sensing systems which perform a function known as “range monitoring.” Range monitoring systems utilize a “range monitoring sensor suite” consisting of one or more sensors of varying type and function specialized for the purpose of monitoring a static or mobile spatial region of interest (ROI) for the presence of objects (physical entities in the environment in which there is some interest). Parameters describing the “environmental state” of the ROI can optionally be monitored. “Range monitoring” can be defined as “detection, classification, identification, tracking, and reporting/recording of objects-of-interest within a fixed or mobile spatial region-of-interest, optionally supplemented with environmental information.” This contrasts with an “environmental monitoring system”, where direct sensing of environmental state parameters is the primary goal of the system.